Pupils showed winning form on road safety

Forty-four pupils from six local primary schools gained runner up and commended recognition in a Junior Road Safety Officer contest.

To support Global Road Safety Week 2017, hundreds of children throughout Scotland entered the competition to design a poster to highlight the dangers of speeding.

Now in its fourth year, the United Nations Global Road Safety Week runs from May 8 to 14 and seeks to raise awareness about the dangers of speeding through its #SlowDown campaign.

Pupils from JRSO participating primary schools were encouraged to get imaginative and enter the competition through their own choice of media.

A total of 616 pupils from 37 primary schools entered with a range of impressive and informative poster designs, including traditional hand drawn entrees to digitally created designs as well as some accompanied by a selfie.

Logan McDowell, primary 7/6 at Westerton Primary School, was awarded runner up position for his excellent design that carried a key message aiming to highlight the dangers of speeding.

Michael McDonnell, director of Road Safety Scotland, said: “The enthusiasm of young people and schools across the country never ceases to amaze me, and the quality of the submissions shows great imagination.

“Hopefully, the underlying reasons for the competition and Global Road Safety Week will be brought home to the children and strike a chord with their teachers and parents.

“The road environment can be dangerous and inappropriate speed choice is a major factor in the type of injuries vulnerable people can suffer.

“JRSOs do a fantastic job of promoting road safety messages in their schools and it’s encouraging to see so many schools getting involved and putting Scotland on the global road safety map. A massive thank you and well done to all those involved.”